Man gets up to 25 years for sexual assault of stranger in Erie

Undated headshot of Joshua Peck, sent by Erie police on Aug. 2. Peck is charged with raping a woman at knife point on July 31. Peck pleaded guilty to three charges in the case on Jan. 2. CONTRIBUTED/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

On its own, Joshua S. Peck's sexual assault of a stranger in Erie in 2013 would have brought him a lengthy prison sentence.

But Peck, a 20-year-old former resident of Millcreek Township, committed a similar crime about six years earlier, when he was 13 and that victim was a 9-year-old girl.

Peck was convicted in Juvenile Court, sent to a placement center and released as an adult -- only to get arrested for the new assault, which he committed in July, when he was 19 and his latest victim was a 22-year-old woman.

Peck's prior record, as well as what the sentencing judge described as his merciless behavior in the new case, combined on Thursday to put Peck in state prison for the next 12 to 25 years.

"You are a clear and present danger," Erie County Judge Shad Connelly said.

Peck assaulted the victim near the railroad tracks south of West 12th and Myrtle streets at about 9:15 p.m. on July 31. Police said Peck lured the woman there after he ran across her at West Ninth and Chestnut streets, where she was looking for a lost set of keys. Peck said his friend had the keys, and he asked the woman to follow him.

Peck during the attack cut the woman's thigh, which is disfigured, her father told Connelly. The woman now lives in Florida and was not in court.

"This has permanently scarred her emotionally and physically," her father said.

The woman escaped and reported the attack to police. Investigators arrested Peck the next day, when, by coincidence, he was in the woman's West Fifth Street neighborhood and she reported he knocked on her door, the prosecution said.

The woman continues to have nightmares about the attack and is "an emotional wreck," her father said.

Connelly gave Peck the maximum sentence -- five to 10 years -- for the main charge against him, the second-degree felony of sexual assault. Connelly also accepted a state expert's report that Peck is a sexually violent predator -- a designation that requires him to register his whereabouts with police for the rest of his life under Megan's Law.

Peck in January pleaded guilty to sexual assault, the first-degree misdemeanor of terroristic threats and the second-degree misdemeanor of simple assault. The threats charge carried a deadly-weapons enhancement, which Connelly imposed.

The assault case yielded a total sentence of seven to 15 years. Connelly gave Peck another five to 10 years after he revoked his probation in four theft cases from 2012.

In the new case, Erie police initially charged Peck with eight counts, including the first-degree felonies of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. The victim consented to the plea deal, which accounted for the time Peck would receive for violating his probation, the District Attorney's Office said.

Peck has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and suffered abuse as a child, according to evidence presented Thursday. Peck apologized and said he had "caused a lot of damages."

Connelly said Peck received treatment for sex offenders while in the juvenile justice system, but did not change. The night he assaulted the victim near the railroad tracks, Connelly said, Peck "showed no mercy."

ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.